Sclerocormus

Name: Sclerocormus ‭(‬stiff trunk‭)‬.
Phonetic: Skle-ro-kor-mus.
Named By: D.-Y.‭ ‬Jiang,‭ ‬R.‭ ‬Motani,‭ ‬J.-D.‭ ‬Huang,‭ ‬A.‭ ‬Tintori,‭ ‬Y.-C.‭ ‬Hu,‭ ‬O.‭ ‬Rieppel,‭ ‬N.‭ ‬C.‭ ‬Fraser,‭ ‬C.‭ ‬Ji,‭ ‬N.‭ ‬P.‭ ‬Kelley,‭ ‬W.-L.‭ ‬Fu‭ & ‬R.‭ ‬Zhang‭ ‬-‭ ‬2016.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Ichthyosauromorpha,‭ ‬Ichthyosauriformes.
Species: S.‭ ‬parviceps‭ (‬type‭)‬.
Diet: Piscivore.
Size: Holotype about‭ ‬1.6‭ ‬meters long.
Known locations: China‭ ‬-‭ ‬Nanlinghu Formation.
Time period: Early Triassic.
Fossil representation: Skull and almost complete post cranial skeleton.




       Sclerocormus is a genus of primitive ichthyosauromorph that lived in waters around Asia during the early Triassic.‭ ‬As a member of the group that was ancestral to the ichthyosaurs,‭ ‬Sclerocormus itself did‭ ‬not look that much like one.‭ ‬The body of Sclerocormus was quite stout and stocky,‭ ‬while the tail of the animal took up just over half of the total body length.‭ ‬The belly of Sclerocormuswas not as deeply round as later ichthyosaurs,‭ ‬and this feature‭ ‬combined with the straight relatively thin tail have come together to form a creature that lived in shallow waters.
       Sclerocormus possessed short jaws that could be opened very quickly.‭ ‬It is thought that the sudden vacuum of the jaws opening could suck nearby animals into the mouth.‭ ‬The jaws being toothless mean that Sclerocormus would have been more suited to hunting soft bodied prey such as cephalopods and other molluscs.

Further reading
-‭ ‬A large aberrant stem ichthyosauriform indicating early rise and demise of ichthyosauromorphs in the wake of the end-Permian extinction.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Scientific Reports‭ ‬6:26232:1-9‭ ‬-‭ ‬D.-Y.‭ ‬Jiang,‭ ‬R.‭ ‬Motani,‭ ‬J.-D.‭ ‬Huang,‭ ‬A.‭ ‬Tintori,‭ ‬Y.-C.‭ ‬Hu,‭ ‬O.‭ ‬Rieppel,‭ ‬N.‭ ‬C.‭ ‬Fraser,‭ ‬C.‭ ‬Ji,‭ ‬N.‭ ‬P.‭ ‬Kelley,‭ ‬W.-L.‭ ‬Fu‭ & ‬R.‭ ‬Zhang‭ ‬-‭ ‬2016.





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